Rudolf’s Castle
Episode 7 of A Discovery of Witches Season 2 begins in Bohemia 1591. Diana and Matthew make it across the rolling hills to the castle nestled amidst monstrous mountains. Unlike Philippe, the greeting from Rudolf is less than welcome. Eventually they’re brought into the Emperor’s hunting lodge for a brief audience with this disgruntled King. There, Matthew questions Rudolf about Edward Kelley. Rudolph claims he’s in Prague but Matthew is not so sure. When Diana speaks up and mentions alchemy, it seems to do the trick and piques his interest. As he kisses her hand, Matthew introduces Diana as his wife. After this meeting, Gallowglass greets the pair and immediately senses that Matthew and Diana have mated. Jack is there too, along with Francoise, but Matthew is not happy that Jack’s there and in danger. Anyway, he and Diana start to disagree about the best way of approaching Rudolf and Kelley, with Diana believing she should use this opportunity to grow closer to Rudolf. Diana hands over a book as a gift but it’s not what he wants. Instead, Rudolf shows her his kunstkammer – a collection of trinkets he’s gained on his travels. Together, Diana tries to goad him into a confession by mentioning the Philosopher’s Stone but he doesn’t sway. After regrouping and coming up with a new plan, she and Gallowglass seek council with the King while Matthew and Pierre go hunting for the apothecary. Matthew suspects that Kelley is being kept in secret around the castle. As luck would have it, Matthew eventually finds him with a couple of guards but his cryptic speech ends with him telling Matthew that it begins with “a discovery of witches.” After this incident, Matthew and Diana meet the Rabbi and believe they can trust him. They mention the book and it turns out he’s definitely seen it. Rudolf let him view it but the man wasn’t able to read it. Instead, Diana and Matthew decide to take Rudolf out of his castle on a hunt while Gallowglass sneaks into Rudolf’s kunstkammer and takes the book for himself. Outside, Diana and Rudolf continue to talk while the latter intentionally winds up Matthew. Until Matthew’s bird breaks Rudolf’s that is. Forced back into the castle, Diana and Matthew catch up with Gallowglass and learn that the Book wasn’t in Rudolf’s study. Instead, Gallowglass found a severed hand that belonged to a witch, surrounded by bits of other creatures. It’s an ominous warning and one that sees Matthew lose control and struggle to control his urges. Given he and Diana are now joined together, Matthew is struggling to control his blood rage. Thankfully Diana gets through to him, and just in time to be summoned to the King to view the kunstkammer. Believing this is just the ticket they need to get in and out with the book, Matthew tasks Pierre to get the horses and the others ready for the evening as they’ll be leaving in a hurry. Unfortunately, things quickly go awry when the Rabbi is revealed to be working with Rudolf after all. Rudolf questions who Diana is and calls her a spy. Diana loses her temper though and conjures a snake on Rudolf’s hand. Shocked, he eventually succumbs and promises to show them the Book. Deep underground, Rudolf reveals Edward Kelley, who’s rocking on the spot. Diana uses her powers to pry the book from his grasp and immediately opens it up, conjuring that same Rowan Tree we’ve been seeing so much of. Fighting inevitably breaks out when Rudolf decides to take in Diana for himself. With the book in their clutches, Diana and Matthew escape Rudolf’s castle and flee. As the episode closes out, a vampire shows up deep underground and has his way with Edward Kelley.
The Episode Review
With the cat and mouse game underway between the vampires in the present day and Matthew and Diana in the past, this episode essentially feels like the Bohemia version of meeting Philippe and venturing around France. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, there isn’t a whole lot of plot development until late on in the episode when our characters finally make it away with the book. With 10 episodes rather than 8 to play with this time around, A Discovery Of Witches definitely feels a lot longer and the pacing is starting to suffer. While the show is pretty enjoyable, there’s not a lot here beyond fragments early on that really scream out that this is a vast improvement over what we’ve seen in season 1. Given I haven’t read the books I can’t comment on how well this compares but it definitely feels like the show needs a bit more action to liven things up. Still, the ending certainly leaves the door open for what’s to come next.
